The present invention relates to an apparatus for cutting a food product, more particularly, such an apparatus utilizing a rotatable cutting wheel having a plurality of generally radial slicing knives which define a cutting plane.
Known devices for slicing a food product typically comprise a rotatable slicing wheel having a plurality of knives extending between a hub and a rim so as to define a cutting plane and a conveying device for conveying the food product through the cutting plane. The speed of the feed device and the rotating speed of the cutting wheel are synchronized such that the food product is sliced into substantially uniform thickness slices. While generally successful, these known slicing machines have been heretofore limited to cutting the food product into slices and have been somewhat limited in the overall size of the food product which may be accommodated. The known food slicing devices also utilize a single motor to drive both the food product feed conveyor and the rotating cutting wheel. While the use of a single motor promotes accurate synchronization of the feed means and the cutting wheel speed, it results in a complicated drive arrangement requiring numerous lubrication points and increased maintenance.
The known slicing machines have been found inadequate for slicing food products such as Iceberg and Romaine lettuce. It has been necessary to precut the lettuce heads into halves or quarters before feeding them into the known slicing machines which are capable of making only a single dimension slicing cut. Thus, the known slicing machines have been utilized only to make shredded lettuce. The lettuce food products may be diced on a known dicing type of dicing apparatus, however, the size of the food product is, again, limited and the known devices are capable of producing only approximately 4,000 lbs. of food product per hour of operation. In order to properly dice a food product, such as lettuce, it is necessary for the apparatus to provide more than a one dimensional cut. This requirement has heretofore rendered the known slicing devices to be inappropriate for dicing food products.